Instagram introduces hashtag follows

Instagram has announced an extra feature to allow users follow their interests by enabling the ‘follow’ of hashtags.

Yup, if you search for a particular hashtag, you have the option of following it so that all content posted under it may be part of your newsfeed.

They shared this with the world yesterday:

‘Following a hashtag is just like following a friend. To get started, search for a topic you’re interested in or tap on a hashtag from any post. You’ll see relevant hashtags displayed in your search results along with related accounts. When you find a hashtag you like, open the hashtag page and tap on the follow button. You’ll begin seeing top posts from that hashtag in your feed and some of the latest stories in your stories bar. You can always unfollow a hashtag at any time.’

Anyone can see the hashtags you follow if you have a public profile, but if your settings are private only followers of yours  can see followed hashtags.

According to an interview with TechCrunch, Instagram will be filtering questionable content tagged under the hashtags people follow so they don’t get to see inappropriate content. They will be flagged down and removed or authors blocked.

Update your Instagram app to make use of the feature.